- President Ruto flagged off seven lorries full of drugs for the workers.
- Each community health promoter will take charge of at most 100 households.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto on Friday flagged off drugs and kits worth millions of shillings for the 100,000 community health promoters across the country.
The drugs will be used by the grassroots-based health workers in all the 47 counties as the government rolled out universal healthcare.
During the event at the Kerichi Green Stadium in Kericho on the Mashujaa Day Celebrations, President Ruto flagged off seven lorries full of drugs for the workers.
Each of the lorries were representing various regions in the country including Nairobi, Nyandarua, Marsabit, Wajir, Homa Bay, Tana River and Bungoma.
The Kenya Kwanza administration has said it spent Sh4 billion to equip the health workers who will be based at the villages.
Each community health promoter will take charge of at most 100 households within their localities as part of the government's emphasis on preventive approach in the war against diseases.
The workers have been issued with special and digital gadgets that will help them collect data on the services they offer to the locals.
The gadgets are linked up with the county government health officials as well as the national government to help in tracking health of Kenyans.
"With these gadgets we will not be writing, we are now digital, and we shall be sending details of the information we gather to the national and county governments," said one of the promoters who spoke on the screens mounted in the stadium.
On Thursday, President Ruto signed the Universal Health Care Bills, which are set to support the improvement of the Universal Health Coverage plan.
The Bills are the Social Health Insurance Bill, Digital Health Bill, Primary Healthcare Bill, and the Facility Improvement Financing Bill, which were passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The Digital Health Bill aims to promote telemedicine and digitise health services by ending written transactions.
The Primary Healthcare Bill aims to strengthen preventive health services by co-opting the 100,000 community health promoters commissioned by the President recently.
The Social Health Insurance Bill abolishes the National Health Insurance Fund and creates three new funds: a Primary Health Care Fund, a Social Health Insurance Fund and a Chronic Illness and Emergency Fund.
The Facility Improvement Financing Bill will restrict funds raised in public health facilities so that those funds are not put to other uses outside of health.